Just two months after returning from the roads of Eastern Canada – the tour wheels still whirring in our ears – we packed up the show again and, with help from the Brooklyn Art Project, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition and others, we took our devilish antics to New York City, on NYC Roadtrip 11, for one last banger on Devil’s Night in Brooklyn.

Now we’re back in Toronto, recovering (just barely) and preparing for the final installment of the show, where we’ll chronicle the whole tour experience through an exhibition, video screening and oral storytelling session. Round and round we go. It never stops. Who knew when we started this thing that it would keep expanding has it has.

- posted by crew leader Ryan

Here’s a little collection of photos that speak to me.

Trois-Pistoles, QC. Image by Karol.

Our fearless crew in Fredericton, NB.

Our portable zine library in Sackville, NB.

Packing up the van, again. Image by Joey.

Me with one of many poutines. Image by Karol.

A rare pic of Terror Clown. Image by Karol.

Portable drawings, Cornwall, ON. Image by Karol.

Sheltered from the rain at Messtival, Moncton, NB.

Inside an old schoolhouse in Pugwash, NS. Image by Karol.

Ritual. Image by Karol.

 For the New York City Edition of
We Made a Deal with the Devil

PROPOSAL DEADLINE: OCT 26

Methinks is seeking performance art and installation proposals from independent artists and collectives of all stripes – especially those committed to the development of fun, innovative and creative storytelling – for the New York City edition of We Made a Deal with the Devil, a touring art show hard on the heels of a month-long tour of Eastern Canada. 

For proposal guidelines, please see SUBMIT.

And then came the crash.

Down I went, into a dark place of disillusionment and disappointment. Not everything I had created on the road was going to last back at home, and I knew it. A few messy personal issues came back to haunt me and I watched my new-found sense of control blow away in a premature autumn breeze. On top of all of that, my apartment needed cleaning.

So what did I do you ask? How am I now? The short answer is: busy. Life picked itself up again, school started, and I settled back into the Toronto groove. I am comfortably occupied with projects and responsibilities. And now we’re taking the show to New York! Most days just thinking about those wheels-a-turning again is enough for me to enjoy what I’m doing here. After all, even though life at home is so full of that frightening R-word (I’m talkin ‘REALITY’ folks), it truly is what you make it.

And I intend to make it good.

Things To Be Grateful For #1: The incredible spiderweb in my backyard

Things To Be Grateful For #2: A shaky Toronto skyline

Things To Be Grateful For #3: Time to myself!

- Crew member Alex.

Breakfast in Quebec City

Afternoon in Long Sault, ON

Waterfoul Park, Sackville, NB

Post-dinner nap in Montreal

What's he up to now?

Andrzej drums in the bucks, Sackville

Self-portrait, Trois-Pistoles, QC

Totally not posing, Ottawa

An unexpected discovery in Montreal

After nine stops on the tour the Wander Project is beginning to take on a recognizable face. Each new place brings with it a chance to follow my feet towards slices of delicious texture, graffittied walls, and heaps of colourful garbage. Along the way, I meet construction workers, climb fences, and tiptoe through dirty puddles. The images I collect speak to a sense of space based entirely on first impressions. My eyes adore shapes and angles, especially where metal meets wood, weeds grow from stone, or paint has peeled its layers. I would like to continue this project into the future. I have visions of thousands of images lining white walls, all catalogued according to place and corresponding to a mapped out wander. Ordered and adventitious at once. This is how a wander feels to me…

Near Major's Hill Park, Ottawa

Rue Richeileu, Quebec City

Rue de Boullion, Montreal

Rue Berri, Montreal

Garneau Garden Center, Victoriaville

Delicious texture, Cornwall

Behind Charlotte St., Peterborough

alex with "heart of darkness"

ryan with "folklore of canada"

karol with "against his-story, against leviathan"

rick with "the shock doctrine"

lisa with "how to be canadian"

andrzej with "hard core road show"

 (all photos by crewmember karol, except for karol, by alex.)

Lisa: Stern advice and voice of reason

Rick: aka, The Riggmeister

Karol: Currently on the run from garbagebag

Ringer: Management & oversight. Also, totally RAD

Alex: The wandering lentil pusher

Andrzej: Running commentary and perpetual death rigger

Image by Karol

Next we visit Tramway Pub 57, a small roadside oasis in Shawinigan, QC, just outside Drummondville, where, by the way, you will find another poutine shack, Le Roy Jucep, which claims to be “Plus que l’inventeur de la poutine” (more than the inventor of poutine).  Why didn’t I visit Le Roy Jucep? Well, it’s simple: I didn’t know about it until now.

But no matter; the poutine at Tamway Pub 57 was, hands down, the most delightful poutine I’ve had yet on this tour. Super-fresh curds and beautiful golden fries nestled in a swamp of delicious home-style wayside gravy. Thankfully I ordered a mini; had I ordered a larger size, I wouldn’t have been able to eat fast enough to avoid having the fries turn mushy.

Also of note: at Tramway Pub 57 you’ll find an outdoor showcase of classic cars (including a replica General Lee); there’s an icecream stand next door; and it’s a great place to play a prank on your tourmates.

Andrzej fell asleep in the shady side of the patio, and the ladies at Tramway totally helped us pull a prank on him. We left him a note explaining that we decided to vote him off the tour, packed up in the van and hid the van behind a building nextdoor and waited for him to awaken, all the while video-taping him from afar. The tramway ladies claimed that they didn’t see us leave.

Hail Tramway Pub 57. Oh and… hail Satan.

- crewleader Ringer

rick documents the unicorns...

It’s Karol here, your official tour photographer checking in with another update from the road. Since I last sent you a set of pics from Montreal, we’ve travelled hundreds of kilometers and had a another pile of adventures. We tested the rig (and Andrzej’s patience) at a poutine stop  near Drummondville, we setup and SLAMMED the amazing Bar L’Agitée in Quebec City, met some amazing folk musicians who rocked accordions hard, drove more, got a speeding ticket, had a Trois Pistoles beer at the foot of the church depicted on the label in Trois Pistoles, QC, and  kept driving until we finally made it to Fredericton. Now, we wait to meet a Hurricane, and set up tomorrow all day at Crumbs Café for an impromptu art show and concert from 9:30am-7pm. TELL YR FRIENDS!

ryan observes practical joke victim andrzej from afar.

wendy ventricle's mom?

driving from drummondville to victo...

chevy till the death, and fuck the rest. (Belair, our man in Victo)

the softer side of terrorclown

cooking in quebec city.

quebec city shirt: a coincidence?

marking the spot.

camping outside quebec city. shot at 2am.

the cirque.

measuring cup of joe. (one of our quebec hosts)

accordion idols. (our quebec city hosts)

terrasse breakfast

kid tested. father approved.

a skid of skids.

we fought the law and...

1666

notre-dame de trois pistoles.

happy trails,
-crew photog karol.

Image by Karol

So I finally hit rock-bottom. I had poutine for breakfast. Some of my tourmates are concerned for my health. They think I should stop this gravy-laden debauchery…but I can’t; I’m hooked.

We met a guy (Belair) in Victoriaville who let us camp out in his backyard, where we cooked food over a steel drum fire and went nuts in the dark. The next morning, over dry cereal in the van, we asked him where to find the best poutine in Victoriaville. “The fucking goodest poutine,” he said, “is at the Cantine Chez Annie.” “It’s the fucking goodest, cheapest poutine!” So, with a quick, heartfelt goodbye, we packed up camp and set out for yet another sloppy poutine experience. We found the place in no time. It’s a little snack-shack on 27 Bd Arthabaska E. Cantine Annie’s is air-conditioned, service is tres friendly – and they have red and blue slush puppies.

I ordered a mini poutine. It cost me 6 bux and change. I should have ordered the baby poutine cuz, as is often the case in these parts of the poutine universe, a mini is enough to feed two people my size. At least I had leftovers (which I scarfed down in the van three hours later once we hit Quebec City). Anyway, I was a bit disappointed by this one. Though the curds were really fresh and abundant, the gravy and fries were poor. Really, I couldn’t taste the gravy because the fries, though perfectly crispy, tasted like three-week-old fryer grease. Overall, this was one of my least favourite poutines. To be fair, though – considering it was the first thing I consumed that day – less than two hours after waking up – and I washed it down with a Slush Puppie and a can of Pepsi – well, I must admit: my judgement may have been a bit impaired.

- posted crewleader Ringer